A5

          For this assignment, I used an Epson machine to scan different areas of my body. At first, I was not sure how to approach this project. I know I wanted to do something abstract for I have always been inspired by abstract art. I used the abstract art movement, more specially semi abstraction, as my motivation and inspiration for this project. The abstract art movement began in the 1900’s and is still popular today. It includes a variety of visual elements to create a separation of reality. Several inspirations of abstract work went into the making of my own semi abreaction piece, yet I chose one particular work that really inspired me. From this abstract piece, I really enjoyed the symmetry indicated and the curves in the piece; therefore I decided to include similar aspects into my own work. 

(inspiration image)

            To create my own abstraction, I arranged my art according to the shape, color, and symmetry of each piece. I wanted to address the idea of technology and people around the world. On the bottom, I incorporated an abstract layer of various lines to suggest the idea of a computer screen. Since our world is becoming so dependent on technology, we treat it almost as a foundation in our own lives. This statement is true for all groups of people. Unintentionally, I printed out black and white copies of my skin. Though the printer was out of toner (which made the copies whiter than usual), it made the art have an increased ambiguity regarding diversity. I believe that the “different skin tones” in my piece can suggest that truly all groups of people are moving towards a technological foundation in their lives. I also used a variety of hand motions in the piece because our hands are a fundamental element in the creation of an obsession with technology. For the shape of the piece as a whole, I used a significant amount of symmetry. Yet as you can see, the piece swirls and stretches away from the main foundation. This was meant to reveal that if we don’t have a foundation of technology, we can roam free and find something more meaningful in our lives to create a new foundation with. 

            I wanted to suggest this idea of technology as our foundation because it’s happening all around us. Using ideas form abstract art made in the early 1900’s, I incorporated many of these abstract principles into my semi abstract piece. I used a fixed amount of particular items that you can define yet they are arranged to create an ambiguous message.  

A4

     My grid art project is constructed out of 950 of my own photos. I wanted something that revealed many of my best adventures, as well as something extremely personal. My mosaic piece was a perfect way of incorporating 950 different memories into one piece of art. My piece was inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s Love is Callingart piece and poem. In the poem, she writes about the memories of love throughout her life. Though Kusama’s perception of love in the poem was rather depressing, my version of all memories of life is seen throughout my grid art. 

      For the overall aesthetic, I was inspired by the construction, colors, shapes, and concepts in Kusama’s Love is Callingroom. I incorporated a brightly colored, swirl in the center of my grid art to symbolize the colorful, curly shapes within the exhibit. In addition, Kusama’s exhibit had dark “holes” within the colorful shapes. My perception of this was the representation of her sadness throughout her life and perhaps in her afterlife. With this in mind, I created something similar in which I incorporated memories within my mosaic that were both joyful and faulty. As Yayoi Kusama also included mirrors within her exhibit to influence the viewer’s look on their own life, I incorporated many personal memories to spark the meaning of life within my own viewers. I believe that the colors and shapes are essential elements to the artist’s definition of life; the good, colorful, the bad and the dark. 

      From her work, I incorporated my own definition of life into my own piece. Within my grid art mosaic, I incorporated my own ideas of love and sadness within my life and the numerous memories conformed to it. 

A3

The History of Burnt Bread

            Have you ever wondered why we put bread in a piece of technology, burn it, and than eat it? Have you ever wondered how this idea came to be? The toaster is a commonly used piece of technology that has had it’s own outcome on the world. It is a prolonged historical idea that came to life, in which it could continue to influence future technologies to come.  

            The history of the toaster may be more interesting than it appears. What exactly is the history of burnt bread? In 500 BC, the Romans were inspired by the idea of ‘browning bread’ that the Egyptians used to keep their bread from growing mold. The idea then spread to the United Kingdom, when the Romans invaded in 44 AD (1). Since bread was a food that was easy to make and easily attainable, it was a common usage in people’s everyday lives. So, to maintain the quality of the made bread, they would ‘brown it’ in the fire. This ideology and method of maintaining the bread’s ingredients was used until the 19^thcentury, “…a hinged fork was used to hold the bread and prevent it from falling into the fire. With the appearance of wood and coal stoves in the 1880s, a new toasting method was needed. This led to a tin and wire pyramid-shaped device. The bread was placed inside and the device was heated on the stove” (1). The usage of simplistic technology was further upgraded to an easier way of burning bread in 1905. An engineer named Albert Marsh created an invention that contained shaped wires (or strips), electricity, wiring mesh, and a rack for the bread (1). This was the first electrical toaster. Yet even though this was a revolutionary way to the easiness of browning bread, not many people had access to electricity in their own homes. Following an increased demand as well as modernized technology achievements, the toaster boomed in technological advances. “Better models soon followed, some with sliding drawers, others with mechanical ways to turn the bread, but the real innovation was the automatic Pop-up toaster, conceived in 1919 by the mechanic Charles Strite. The incorporated timer shut off the heating element and released a pop-up spring when the slice of toast was done” (2). As time went on, the technological advances increased as well as our knowledge for strategic toast making. Therefore, by the 21^stcentury, we now have “smart toasters” using microchip technology not just for browning bread, but also for cooking other baked goods and frozen meals, some even at the same time (2). The beginning of the toaster’s history seems almost insignificant, yet we discover that through history it was extremely important in the simplification of life. 

            The toaster has had many technological advancement, in which there is possibility for more. The toaster could also inspire many new technologies. For an example, with the current technology from a toaster, there could be a machine that is a conformed microwave, toaster, and oven. This could simplify life complications, and it could decrease the cost spent on kitchen appliances. The toaster could also inspire technology more complex than itself. Using the idea of microchip technology in modern toasters, the same idea could be transferred into a technological ideology of a possible toaster that could read the owners mind. All you would have to do is think about how you want your bread or baked good cooked and the machine obeys. There could also be another attached setting in which you could think which topping you want on the product and inside the machine, it makes it for you so you don’t have to! With the many technological advances of the toaster, it is highly possible that we could reach many more levels of ingenious toaster technology. 

            A petite machine can make a tremendous difference. We see this throughout history and we can see it within the future. The toaster is a piece of technology that has impacted cultures in the past, but will also impact others in the future.  

MLA

1.  Advameg Inc. “How Toaster Is Made.” How Products Are Made, 2018, www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Toaster.html.

2.  Ramos, Ana Lopes. “The History of Toasters.” John Desmond Ltd., 20 May 2016, www.johndesmond.com/blog/products/the-history-of-toasters/.

X2

When looking at Christopher Johnson’s ASCII Art Collection, it wasn’t what I expected. I looked at several of his 23 different categories and within all of them they were extremely unique. I had seen computer images like this, but I had never seen it in an art form. It’s interesting how he could take his passion for computers and art and conform them. One of my favorites categories was the Mickey Mouse section. It’s crazy how similar it was compared to a drawn version of Mickey! When I searched through the animal selection, he didn’t have a turtle category ( my favorite animal), but he still had a variety of different animals. Out of the given, I liked the dolphin category the most. I enjoyed this one particularly because each of the 5 dolphin designs were so different from one another, yet they were using the same computer programing to achieve the desired effect. Each dolphin was made up of letters, words, lines, and special characters. The usage of them uniformly made a realistic outline of a dolphin. My most favorite of his work was the astronomy art. With multiple examples of different space sceneries, it was eccentrically interesting. I loved both of the Saturn designs and one of the Earth designs. The ASCII gallery was something I was not expecting, but it was super interesting and made me question the coding on how to achieve art pieces like his. 

A2

Flip Animation Video  (10-9-18) 

Artist Statement (10-10-18) 

This is my flip animation project about a rocket and a UFO’s journey through space. From the outside, the rocket is afraid of the UFO because it contains aliens and the UFO is afraid because the rocket contains humans. Yet, we find out at the end, that each space aircraft is more similar than they think. 

            I wanted to show the idea that we should not automatically judge things we see on the outside because things on the outside are much different than things on the inside. This statement is simple but powerful. We can apply this to the animation and in everyday life. The way my animation displays this is that they are both fighting for what they think is acceptable, yet they are on the same side. I also wanted to touch on the issue of stereotypes and the pride that comes with it. Here, the rocket assumes the UFO has an alien in it, so the rocket shoots the UFO without knowledge of who truly is inside the UFO. 

            I wanted to create an animation involving my passion of science fiction, astronomy, and scientific theology while incorporating two toxic issues in society today. I wanted people to see how it is truly the inside that you should see instead of making misinterpretations about someone or something.